SERI Researchers Develop AI Tools for Screening Kidney Disease, Predicting Age using Eye Photos

Both RetiKid and RetiAge use AI deep learning algorithms to screen for health conditions in retinal images. Researchers from the Singapore Eye Research Institute have developed two novel AI-powered tools for screening chronic kidney disease and predicting a person's biological age from retina photos. The kidney disease screening tool called RetiKid was developed by SERI and the National University of Singapore's School of Computing in 2019. RetiKid may be used as a preliminary screening test for detecting CKD in general populations and high-risk groups, such as those with diabetes.

The blood vessels in a person's retina too can show their ageing process and the overall health of their blood and brain, said Cheng Ching-Yu, head of SERI's Ocular Epidemiology Research Group and Data Science Research Platform. "The retina is a non-invasive window into one's biological age and systemic health status, and can tell us many things about a person's morbidity and mortality risks". Both tools can also be integrated with the Singapore Eye Lesion Analyser Plus, a retinal image-based system developed by SERI, which is currently being used by polyclinics across Singapore to screen for diabetic eye diseases, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. Among recent innovations in eye health in Singapore is an AI-based glaucoma screening method developed by a team of scientists and clinicians from the Nanyang Technological University and the Tan Tock Seng Hospital.